After never trailing in the first and leading by as many as 10, Colorado State University took a 31-26 lead into the locker room before UNLV quickly tied things up after the break. From there, it was a constant volley back and forth at Moby Arena until the Rams eventually pulled through in front of a crowd of 7,626.

"I thought in the last two minutes of the first half and beginning of the second half, I didn't think we were playing as hard. Maybe I'm wrong, the film will show it," Colorado State coach Larry Eustachy said. "We have to want to play for long periods at a time, and we did, but in the last two minutes we didn't and the same to start the second.

"UNLV has great players and they make big-time shots. They took the same shots (in the second), but they just made them."

Colorado State (15-3, 2-1 MW) didn't have its greatest shooting performance Saturday. Averaging 45.5 percent from the field, the Rams were limited to 38.9 and when Wes Eikmeier hit a jumper to tie the game with 3 minutes, 59 seconds remaining, it would be the last Colorado State would connect on.

Despite field goal woes, Colorado State found a way to come through.

UNLV (15-4, 2-2) held its largest lead of 3 points with 3:40 to after a 3-pointer by Anthony Marshall — who finished with a team-best 21 points — but Colorado State consistently fought to draw fouls. Pounding inside or taking the hip-check on a drive, whistles blew in the Rams favor down the stretch.

The final 10 points scored by the Rams were all at the free-throw line, thanks to the efforts of Colton Iverson, Wes Eikmeier and Dorian Green – who scored a game-high 24. Colorado State made 19 of 21 attempts Saturday, including its final 15, leaving Eustachy to credit it and winning the rebound margin by two to why his team came away with No. 24 in a row at home.

But defense also paid dividends, especially against UNLV's All-American freshman.

Rebels' forward Anthony Bennett had been leading the Mountain West in scoring at 19 points per game, but was held Saturday to only nine. His 8.9 rebounds per night were best on the team, but again he was limited to just six. Even Bryce Dejean-Jones, UNLV's second best offense player, was forced below his average and turned the ball over five times.

To top it off, Colorado State didn't allow a single fast-break point Saturday, making it a night the Rams could hang their horns on what they takes pride in – defense and transition basketball.

"I think it just shows our maturity and what we can do as a team. We just kept battling and stuck with it and made big plays down the stretch and made big stops," Green said. "It shows what kind of team and chemistry we have.

"We always expect to win, we have that kind of confidence. Our backbone is defense and rebounding, and that's what we did at the game – we held them to one shot and made big plays."